Written by Lennon and McCartney as the intended follow-up to From Me To You, I'll Get You was eventually released as the b-side to the irresistible She Loves You.

That was Paul and me trying to write a song and it didn't work out.

John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The song was composed at John Lennon's aunt Mimi's house on Menlove Avenue, Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney rarely wrote at the house because of Mimi's disapproval of their music.

As with She Loves You, I'll Get You was full of 'yeah's; The Beatles' use of the word in the songs earned them the nickname The Yeah-Yeahs throughout Europe.

I'll Get You became one of Paul McCartney's favourite Beatles tracks. It was frequently played live by the group too - a version from the London Palladium, recorded on 13 October 1963, appears on Anthology 1.

It's got an interesting chord in it: 'It's not easy to pre-tend...' That was nicked from a song called All My Trials which is on an album I had by Joan Baez: 'There's only one thing that money can't buy.' It's like D, which goes to an A minor, which is unusual, you'd normally go from a D to an A major. It's a change that had always fascinated me, so I put it in. I liked that slightly faggy way we sang. 'Oh yeah, oh yeah,' which was very distinctive, very Beatley.

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

In the studio

The Beatles recorded I'll Get You on 1 July 1963, after they'd finished taping She Loves You. It originally had the working title Get You In The End.

Details no longer exist of the number of takes required to complete the song, as Abbey Road's documentation was somewhat haphazard at the time. However, the stumbling over the vocals in the middle eight - Lennon sings "I'm gonna make you mine", instead of the correct "gonna change your mind" - suggest that the group dashed it off quickly.

After taping the rhythm track John Lennon overdubbed his harmonica part, and the rest of The Beatles contributed handclaps.

“I liked that slightly faggy way we sang. ‘Oh yeah, oh yeah,’ which was very distinctive, very Beatley”

Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
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And – to reiterate – very “faggy”. What was that all about anyway, Sir Paul? Maybe it was the Beatles’ way of acknowledging or thanking their erstwhile (gay) manager Brian Epstein. Or maybe the song was inspired by Epstein’s trip to Spain with Lennon earlier that year (1963). Cavern Club emcee Bob Wooler soon learned that this was not a suject one brought up in public…unless one had a hankering to have the crap pummeled out of them by John Lennon himself. Touchy subject, eh Paul? So why did you have to go and “touch” it?. LOL

I’ve just ‘rediscovered’ this excellent song; it should’ve been an A side. ‘Imagine I’m in love with you’ a great line and then ‘I’ve imagined …’ a beautiful melodic line, a classic. I suppose it’s so simple that John cuffed it off at the time. But I hope he changed his mind! Maybe subconsciously he did, with ‘Imagine’. I was playing this on the piano just a minute ago, and made a mistake ‘I’ll get you in the end’ which is supposed to be Bm. But I did a B, and it sounds nice. I’m going to sing this to a beautiful girl who said she loves me, after I’ve practiced a bit.

Just recently occurred to me, but ‘Imagine’ has some lyrics in common with ‘I’ll Get You’ and it’s fun to sing some of the lyrics from IGY to the melody of Imagine. Example, ‘Imagine I’m in love with you …. it’s easy ’cause I know …’ (and of course Imagine has ‘it’s easy if you try’)….. The second verse IGY also works with Imagine melody.

Can buy me love

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